Bill Chappell

Bill Chappell is a blogger and producer who currently works on The Two Way, NPR's flagship blog. In the past, he has coordinated digital features for Morning Edition and Fresh Air, and edited the rundown of All Things Considered. He frequently contributes to other NPR blogs, such as All Tech Considered and The Salt.

Chappell's work at NPR has ranged from being the site's first full-time homepage editor to being the lead writer and editor on the London 2012 Olympics blog, The Torch. His assignments have included being the lead web producer for NPR's trip to Asia's Grand Trunk Road, as well as establishing the Peabody Award-winning StoryCorps on NPR.org.

In 2009, Chappell was a key editorial member of the small team that redesigned NPR's web site. One year later, the site won its first Peabody Award, along with the National Press Foundation's Excellence in Online Journalism award.

At NPR, Chappell has trained both digital and radio staff to use digital tools to tell compelling stories, in addition to "evangelizing" β promoting more collaboration between legacy and digital departments.

Prior to joining NPR in late 2003, Chappell worked on the Assignment Desk at CNN International, handling coverage in areas from the Middle East, Asia, Africa, Europe, and Latin America, and coordinating CNN's pool coverage out of Qatar during the Iraq war.

Chappell's work for CNN also included producing Web stories and editing digital video for SI.com, and editing and producing stories for CNN.com's features division.

Before joining CNN, Chappell wrote about movies, restaurants and music for alternative weeklies, in addition to his first job: editing the police blotter.

A holder of bachelor's degrees in English and History from the University of Georgia, he attended graduate school for English Literature at the University of South Carolina.

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The Two-Way

9:44 am

Thu March 12, 2015

Two weeks after it voted to approve rules on net neutrality, the Federal Communications Commission has released the full text of the Open Internet Order. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler calls it "a shining example of American democracy at work."

Wheeler also listed what he calls "bright-line rules" in the order. From his summary:

Ban Paid Prioritization: "Fast lanes" will not divide the Internet into "haves" and "have nots."

Ban Blocking: Consumers must get what they pay for β unfettered access to any lawful content on the Internet.

The Two-Way

5:21 am

Thu March 12, 2015

Shiite militiamen pose with their banner (right) next to a captured β and upside-down β ISIS flag (left) in Tikrit, Iraq. Militias are bolstering Iraqi forces in a major operation to retake the city from the self-proclaimed Islamic State.

Pro-government forces in Iraq are making progress in the push to take back the city of Tikrit from the self-proclaimed Islamic State, or ISIS. Iraqi officials say the focus is now on the city's center, and that advances were still being slowed by bombs and booby traps.

The Two-Way

11:04 am

Wed March 11, 2015

Coins from the Thomas Lockwood Collection were recently found to be rare and priceless. From a description by the University at Buffalo, from top to bottom: A gold aureus of the Roman emperor Otho; a tetradrachm of Athens; a tetradrachm of Alexander the Great; a silver tetradrachm of Syracuse (Sicily); a gold aureus of the emperor Nero; and a gold octodrachm of Arsinoe II."

Iraqi troops and militia fighters are reportedly inside the city of Tikrit, the city that has been held by the self-proclaimed Islamic State, or ISIS, since last June. Officials and witnesses say the Iraqis now control part of northern Tikrit.

French police say two armored trucks carrying jewels and other items worth some $9.5 million were seized by more than a dozen armed attackers Wednesday, in a midnight heist that took place on the A6 highway that runs between Paris and Lyon.

Authorities were hunting for the thieves Wednesday, focusing on an area around the crime that took place about 140 miles southeast of Paris.

The heist was timed to coincide with the trucks' stop at a toll booth, where gunmen overcame the shipment's drivers, who were reportedly unarmed. The drivers were left uninjured.

The Two-Way

6:55 am

Wed March 11, 2015

University of Oklahoma students march to the now-closed Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity house during a rally against racism Tuesday. Two former members of the fraternity have apologized for their roles in a video that showed them singing a racist chant.

Two men who were in a video of Sigma Alpha Epsilon members singing a racist chant have apologized for their actions, with one of the now-former fraternity brothers saying he had learned "a devastating lesson."

5:01 am

Wed March 11, 2015

The search continues for an Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter that crashed late Tuesday night off the Florida coast. Seven Marines and four members of the Louisiana National Guard were on a routine nighttime training mission at Eglin Air Force Base.

11:23 am

Tue March 10, 2015

One of the students seen in a video in which fraternity members at the University of Oklahoma chant a racist song has apologized for his actions, as have the parents of another student seen in the video.

Parker Rice, one of the students, apologized in a statement published by the Dallas Morning News. He called his actions "wrong and reckless."

The story of how Istanbul residents learned sign language to create a special day for a neighbor has turned a Samsung ad into an international viral hit. The ad was filmed by hidden cameras on the route traveled by Muharrem Yazgan, who is hearing-impaired, and his sister, Γzlem, who was in on the project.

The Two-Way

10:21 am

Tue March 10, 2015

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks to reporters Tuesday at United Nations headquarters, where she said she chose to use a personal email account for government business out of convenience.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who has been under fire for her use of a personal email address while in office, said Tuesday she "chose not to keep personal emails" from her tenure at the State Department, but that she turned over 55,000 printed pages of her official correspondence to the department.

At a news conference at the U.N., Clinton said the personal correspondence included emails about planning her daughter Chelsea's wedding, preparations for her mother's funeral and her yoga schedule.

The Two-Way

7:59 am

Tue March 10, 2015

A letter from U.S. senators suggests the lawmakers "not only do not understand international law, but are not fully cognizant of the nuances of their own Constitution," says Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

Republican senators' letter to Iran about ongoing nuclear talks has prompted a lengthy response from Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who delivered an overview of international law as he critiqued the letter.

Five days after his face and arm were slashed in an attack in Seoul, U.S. Ambassador Mark Lippert has been released from the hospital. Doctors say the stitches from the cut to Lippert's face have been removed, but he has a deep cut on a finger that will still require attention.

From Seoul, NPR's Elise Hu reports:

"In a press conference before leaving the hospital, Lippert said that while there's more rehab left for his arm, he's eager to return to work.

Two helicopters collided during the filming of a French reality TV show Monday, killing 10 people, including two Olympic medalists and an accomplished sailor. News of the crash in Argentina has left France in mourning, Prime Minister Manuel Valls says.

In addition to the athletes and five other French citizens, two Argentine pilots died in the accident.

It weighs as much as an SUV, but its wingspan is wider than a 747's. And Monday, a solar-powered airplane flew over the Gulf of Oman, starting what its pilots hope will be a record-setting trip around the world.

Citing an "erosion of human rights guarantees" and corruption in Venezuela, President Obama issued an executive order Monday imposing sanctions on members of the country's military and intelligence services.

Responding to a video that allegedly shows members of its University of Oklahoma chapter chanting racist slurs about African-Americans and lynching, the national office of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity has closed the chapter and suspended its members.

The video reportedly captured a scene of members of the fraternity, dressed in formalwear, chanting slurs as they rode on a chartered bus. It surfaced Sunday, immediately drawing wide condemnation for the chant's mention of lynching and the promise that the fraternity will never have a black member.

The Two-Way

8:38 am

Mon March 9, 2015

The U.S. Supreme Court has vacated an appeals court ruling that went against the University of Notre Dame, in a case that revolves around the Affordable Care Act's requirement that employers should pay for contraception as part of women's health insurance.

Last February, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago backed a lower court's ruling that dismissed Notre Dame's request for an injunction against the rule.

The Two-Way

6:54 am

Mon March 9, 2015

A woman wears a face mask on a hazy January day in downtown Shanghai. China has ordered a popular anti-pollution film removed from major online outlets. In Xi'an, two people who had protested against smog were reportedly detained.

A human rights group says that police in China detained two people Monday for protesting the government's approach to air pollution. One of the protesters was detained for slander, according to China Human Rights Defenders.

The group says the pair were released after being held overnight, with an update published Monday citing "the pressure of public opinion at home and abroad."

More survivors of the Boston Marathon bombing are expected to tell their stories Monday morning in the trial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Those testifying already have included a father whose 8-year-old son died in the attack.

Tsarnaev's defense team insists he was pressured by his older brother, Tamerlan, into wreaking violence that killed three people and injured more than 260. He was 19 at the time of the 2013 attacks.

Put down that screen: Today's the day to celebrate holding a bound book in your hands. World Book Day celebrations include storytelling and dressing up as favorite characters. We bring you a roundup of stories and reading lists.

Many young (and less-young) readers are using the occasion to dress up as beloved characters β from pirates and the doughnut-dispensing Mr. Panda to Hermione Granger of the Harry Potter series.

The Two-Way

9:56 am

Thu March 5, 2015

The family of Michael Brown, the unarmed black man who was slain by Ferguson, Mo., police last August, say they will file a civil lawsuit over his death. Brown, 18, was shot and killed by Officer Darren Wilson, who is no longer with the city's police force.

The family's legal team "said the City of Ferguson and former Officer Darren Wilson will be named in the suit," The Associated Press reports.

The Two-Way

7:52 am

Thu March 5, 2015

Andreas Von Knorre (right), one of two German nationals arrested for vandalism in Singapore, arrives in a police car at the state court on Nov. 22, 2014. Both men were sentenced Thursday to a prison term and caning.

Two young German men who broke into a train depot in Singapore to spray-paint graffiti on a commuter train car have been sentenced to nine months in prison and three strokes from a cane. They were tracked down and arrested in Malaysia last November.

Andreas Von Knorre, 22, and Elton Hinz, 21, had been working in Australia when they traveled to Singapore and broke into the depot. They soon became the subject of an international pursuit.

The Two-Way

5:09 am

Thu March 5, 2015

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, seen here at a U.N. event last March, has been criticized for using a private email account to conduct official business during her four years in the Obama administration.

Responding to concerns over her use of a personal email account to conduct official business while in office, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says she wants the public to have access to her emails. The State Department says it will review messages for possible release.

The issue rose to importance earlier this week, after it was revealed that during her entire tenure at the State Department, Clinton used a personal email account β a move that had kept the emails out of the government's control and circumvented archival practices.

The Two-Way

10:52 am

Wed March 4, 2015

Spain is exporting record amounts of wine. Earlier this year, Spain's King Felipe VI (center) and Queen Letizia toasted with Freixenet president Josep Lluis Bonet during a visit to the winemaker's headquarters in Sant Sadurni d'Anoia, Spain.

Spain's wine industry had a record year in 2014, posting numbers that could propel it past Italy as the world's biggest wine exporter. Annual results have not yet been reported in Italy, which was the top exporter last year.

The growth is due to a bumper crop at Spain's vineyards in 2013 that allowed it to surpass France in the export rankings. But a Spanish industry group says that despite 22 percent annual growth in exports compared with 2013, Spain's overall wine profits fell 2 percent in the same span.

The Two-Way

8:29 am

Wed March 4, 2015

Misao Okawa, the world's oldest living person, poses for a photo with her son Hiroshi Okawa, 92, (left) and other family members and friends on her 117th birthday celebration at Kurenai Nursing Home in Osaka, Japan.

New details have emerged in the case of a homeless man who was killed by Los Angeles police Sunday, as officials say he was the subject of a federal warrant related to violating probation. There's also word that he lived under a stolen identity; for now, his true name is a mystery.

America is heading toward the day when whites will no longer make up the majority of the population. And U.S. children will get there soon, according to a new U.S. Census Bureau report. The agency also says the overall U.S. population will grow older β and grow more slowly β in coming years.

By around 2020, "more than half of the nation's children are expected to be part of a minority race or ethnic group," the Census Bureau says, putting Americans under the age of 18 at the front of a trend that will see the overall population follow suit some 20 years later.

The Two-Way

5:02 am

Wed March 4, 2015

In this courtroom sketch, Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (third from right) is depicted with his lawyers and U.S. District Judge George O'Toole Jr., as O'Toole addresses a pool of potential jurors. The trial begins Wednesday.

The trial of accused Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev begins in earnest Wednesday, with opening statements in a capital trial that's expected to last several months. It took nearly two months to seat a jury.

The 18 jurors (including six alternates) will hear and see what prosecutors say is irrefutable evidence of Tsarnaev's role in the notorious twin bombings that killed three people and injured more than 260, as well as in the events that followed, in which a Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer was also killed.

Former CIA Director and retired Gen. David Petraeus, whose military career has been overshadowed by charges that he provided classified data to his mistress, has made a deal with the Justice Department in which he will plead guilty to one count of unauthorized removal and retention of classified material.

The deal will allow Petraeus, who rose to the rank of a four-star general before becoming director of the CIA, to avoid a trial and plead guilty to a misdemeanor. He'll also avoid a prison sentence, if a federal court agrees with the plea deal's terms.